Thickness gauge



D c.10;1 EHGULLIKSEN 2224,728'

' THICKNESS GAUGE Filed July 9,1938

WITNESSES: INVENTOR X/ Finn H. Gu li/rsen.

mesa Dec.10, 1940 2,224,728

UNITED I STATES PATENT. OFFICE THICKNESS GAUGE Finn H. Gulliksen, Wilkinsburg, Pa, assignor to Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, East Pittsburgh, Pam, a corp ration of Pennsylvania Application July 9, 1938, Serial No. 218,308 1 Claim. (Cl. 33-172) My invention relates, generally, to thickness Referring to the drawing, a cylindrical roller gauges and, more particularly, to a gauge for I2 is provided so that the strip I4 whose thickness measuring the thickness of flexible strip material. is to be measured may pass over the roller I2.

In carrying out manufacturing processes in A pair of contact rollers I6 and I8 mounted on which strip material is produced, it is necessary a frame or yoke 20 are disposed to engage the that the thickness of the strip be known so that strip I4 as it passes over the roller I2 and a feeler the steps in the process may be controlled to element 22 is supported on the frame 20 and produce a strip of uniform thickness. In the opcontrols an indicator 24 which is graduated to ineration of steel strip rolling mills in which strips dicate the thickness of the strip I4.

of great width are produced, it is necessary that The roller I2 'issultably supported by bearings 10 the thickness of the strip throughout its width 26 on supporting elements 28 in such a position as well as throughout its length be measured acas to allow the strip I4 to pass over the roller I2 curately as it passes through the mill so that the as it is being passed through a work device such various factors, such as tension and screw-down as a paper mill, strip rolling mill or the like, not

which control the thickness of the strip may be shown. The contactrollers I8 and I8 may be u adjusted, if need be, to produce a strip of a desupported by suitable bearings in the ends of the sired uniform thickness throughout its length and arms of the frame and the frame 20 and the width. contact rollers I8 and I8 are so dimensioned as Instruments heretofore used for measuring the to provide a spacing between the adjacent sides 2n -thickness of steel strip as it passes through the of the roller-s I6 and it which is less than the go strip mill have been operable to measure the strip diameter of the roller I2 plus twice the thickness thickness at the edge of the strip but have not of the strip I4. With such a spacing of the rollers been operable to measure accurately the strip I6 and I8, the rollers will never pass below the thickness at or near the center of the strip. a center line of the roller I2 and there will always It is, therefore, an object of my invention to be, an angle A between the centers of the rollers 25 provide a thickness gauge which, shall function to It and I8 and the lines between the center .of the measure accurately the thickness of a strip of roller I2 and the centers of the rollers I6 and I8. flexible material at any desired point throughout The feeler element 22 comprises a stem memthe entire width of the material while the maber 30 which is slidably mounted in the frame 30 terial is in motion. 20, as shown, so that there may be relative move- 30 Another object of the invention is to provide a ment between the frame 20 and the stem '30. The thickness gauge for flexible sheet material which stem 30 is biased toward the line between the shall function to measure accurately the thickcenters of the rollers I6 and I8 by a spring mem- -ness of the material at any desiredpoint on'the ber 32 which bears upon the frame 20, as illussheet. trated, and upon a shoulder 34 on the stem 30. 5

A further object of the invention is to provide A rotatable contact member 36, which may be a a thickness gauge for flexible strip material which roller similar to rollers I8 and I8, is attached to shall function to measure accurately the thickthe stem 30 by a suitable bifurcated member 38.

ness of steel strip at any desired point through- In order that the relative movement and disout the width of the strip as it moves through placement of the stem 30 and the frame 20 which 40 the reducing rolls. are functions of the change in thickness and the A further object of the invention is to provide thickness of the strip I4 may be known or india thickness gauge for a sheet of material which cated, the indicating device 24 is provided. The shall have a small number of parts, and which indicating device 24 comprises a pinion 40 which shall be simple and efficient in operation and is rotatably mounted on the frame 20 by, any 5 inexpensive to manufacture, install and mainsuitable support 42 and cooperates with the rack tain. 44 on the end of the stem 30, so that any rela-' These and other objects and advantages of my tive movement between the stem 30 and the invention will be apparent from the following deframe 20 will cause rotation of the pinion 40. A

tailed description taken in connection with the pointer 48 is mounted to be moved by the rota- 50' accompanying drawing, in which: tion of the pinion 40 and a scale 48 is mounted Figure 1 is a view in perspective of a preferred on the frame 20 in cooperative relation with the embodiment of my invention, and pointer 46. The scale 48 may be suitably gradu- Fig. 2 is an end elevation view of the embodiated to indicate the thickness of the strip I4. I ment of the invention shown in Fig. 1. In the operation of the device as the strip I4 55 be positioned upon the strip I4 at any point throughout the width of the strip ll where it is desired to determine the thickness of the strip.-

When the frame 20 is so positioned that the rollers it, it and 16 arein contact with the strip H, the relative displacement of the frame II and the stem III will be determined by the thickness of the strip 14. It will be seen that an increase in thickness of the strip M which we will designate as T will cause the roller II and the stem 30 to be raised an amount T. The frame 2. and rollers I8 and it, however, will be raised an amount which we will call V by the increase in thickness T. Then the relative movement be! tween the stem '30 and the frame 2| which we will call M may be expressed now '1' sine A therefore,

. sine A-T 1 M: (sine A and the thickness of the strip may be expressed by the formula -may give large indications on the scale 48, thus increasing the sensitivity of the instrument. The sensitivity of the instrument will also vary with the angle A, the sensitivity being greater as the angle A decreases, as may beseen from the formula 1 M: sine A 1 as explained above. If it is desired that the sensitivity of the instrument be further increased, so that a very small increase in the thickness of the strip I may be indicated, any suitable indicating device may be substituted for the device 24 illustrated to accurately determine and indicate very small changes in the relative displacement of the frame 20 and the stem 30.

The frame 20 and the parts of the measuring device mounted thereon may be movable manually to any desired position or a supporting and guiding structure therefor may be provided to allow it to be raised and lowered and moved back and forth along the roller l2 throughout the width of the strip. The supporting and guiding structure I comprises a rod 52 extending parallel to the axis of the roller I 2 between brackets 54 which are secured in any suitable manner to the supporting elements 28. A bracket I. is slidably mounted on the rod 52 and has a vertically extending pin ll upon which a lug I of the frame 2| is mounted for vertical slidabie movement. Thus the frame may be raised and lowered by virtue of the slidable movement provided between the lug N and the pin 88, and may be moved horizontally along the width of the strip by virtue of the slidable relation between the rod 52 and the bracket 58.

vin the preferred embodiment of my invention.

It is to be understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise construction shown and described but is capable of modification by one skilled in the art, the embodiment herein shown being merely illustrative of the principles of my invention.

I claim as my invention:

In a gauge for measuring the thickness of a moving strip of material as it passes over and extends partially around the surface of a rotatable cylindrical member, a frame having two spaced depending members, a contact roller mounted on each of said depending members disposed to engage the sheet material at points spaced a distance less than the sum of the diameter of the cylindrical member.and twice the thickness of the material, which points are opposite to points of the strip which engage the cylindrical member and between a diameter of the cylindrical member and the frame, a feeler element, a rotatable contact member mounted on said feeler element, means mounting said feeler element for movement relative to said frame and with said rotatable contact member intermediate said contact rollers and disposed to engage the sheet material, means biasing said feeler element toward the line between said contact rpllers, means mounted on said frame for indicating the relative displacement of said feeler element and said frame when said contact rollers and said rotatable contact member are caused to engage the strip of material simultaneously as it passes over the cylindrical member, and guiding and supporting means for said frame comprising means for guiding said frame for movement in a direction substantially normal to the axis of said cylindrical member and means for guiding said frame for movement in a direction substantially parallel to the axis of said cylindrical member.

FINN H. GULLIKSEM 

